


Smile in Victory

by erroetcresco



Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Fake Chop, Fake Syndicate, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Vague descriptions of violence, just mentioned though everything bad is lightly done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 13:36:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erroetcresco/pseuds/erroetcresco
Summary: Aleks met James while he was wearing a homemade Gumby mask.Aleks joined the Creatures with their masks off.Aleks and James wore matching Cow masks.Cow Chop celebrated on the roof.





	Smile in Victory

**Author's Note:**

> Written at 1 AM, so forgive me my mistakes. If you see one, feel free to point it out in a comment. I just felt the urge to write it, after watching a bunch of Creature videos - particularly the video of James dressed as Gumby dancing for Carl. I wasn't around for Creature Era Aleks and James, but I got into it when I ran out of Cow Chop to watch. Not gonna lie, their stuff was really good. 
> 
> (I'm stilling working on the next part to What Staring Leads To. It's in the pipeline!)

The first time Aleks saw James - though he didn’t know it yet - the man had a mask on, some kind of fucked up green bag with red eyes. Aleks waited for the masked man to dive into the van after a man with a red mask, and a man with a cartoon batman mask, and floored it out of there. He’d been hired to drive them away from the jewelry store they just heisted, lose the cops, shit like that. When he looked into the rear view mirror, the three of them are high fiving and pulling out necklaces and even a tiara to show to each other. The cops got a whiff of their scent, but Aleks lost them easily in the Liberty City traffic. When he dropped them off before going to ditch the van, the green masked guy knocked on his window. Aleks rolled it down, and the man hiked up his mask high enough that Aleks could see straight white teeth bared in a dangerous grin and a black beard neatly trimmed on his chin.

“Here,” the guy said, and dropped a diamond studded ring into Aleks’ hand. “You did good. See ya around.” 

Aleks examined the band in his palm for a moment, while the man went and joined the others he’d dropped off. The diamonds weren’t too big, it definitely wasn’t a big fraction of the haul, but it was a nice tip for his driving, at least. He put it in his pocket, and drove towards the airport to ditch the van, a dumpster to drop the plates, and a random garbage can to leave his plastic transformers mask in. 

He figured he would pawn it, but he never did. Sometimes, he considered it as a last resort - a source of cash if he had nothing left - but that never came up. The crew he had driven for hired him again, and again, until he was in it. He was a Creature, same as the guy in the fucked up green bag. 

\----

James didn’t wear a mask on the job before everything changed. Aleks wasn’t driving anymore; he had shown himself to be more than smart at the wheel. He had a smart tongue too, and quick hands. James was better at shooting, but Aleks was good at getting behind someone and sliding a knife between their ribs. This job felt different, though, and in a different sense than “every job was unique”. James was on edge, Aleks could tell by the way he disassembled and reassembled his pistol before the job, the way he kept silent through the usual pre-job banter, the way he ran his fingers through his short curls while the two of them waited in position. James being on edge put everyone else on edge: Kootra flipping his butterfly knife around like a toy, Dan checking the comms over and over again, Aron crushing his usual dumdum under his foot, rather than sucking on it. 

The ring James had given him glittered on his right middle finger, a point of teasing for the rest of the crew, but was a part of him at this point. Aleks spun it around his finger, over and over, fiddling with it in a way to express his nerves the same as everyone else. See, Aleks knew what was wrong, which was something he wasn’t sure the rest of the crew could say. James was pissed, and for good reason. He’d had a different way of doing this job, brought it up, and got shut down. James thought this was a sure way to get someone hurt, and he had a better idea. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it felt different this time. It felt like the breaking point. 

Aleks earned himself a gunshot during this job, and he’d even gotten lucky. It was a graze, but he couldn’t help the way he had to breathe through his teeth to keep from freaking out and becoming a burden on the rest of the crew. The blood soaked through his hoodie and had started to drip from his sleeve, even with Dan holding a bunched up jacket against the wound, When James rejoined them at the randevu, Aleks saw the way he blinked when he saw him leaning against the corner of the motel room they were using, and promptly put his fist, silently, through the drywall. He knew he had been right about his feelings before. Something was going to change. 

\---

The next time Aleks saw James in a mask, they were matching. They were both wearing plastic cow masks, same as everyone else in their crew. They had left, together, with a scab still crusting over Aleks’ shoulder. Joe had come with them, so had Aron. They picked up some other people during the move, using the contacts they had made during their stint with the Creatures. 

On the one hand, they had to build themselves up from a shaky foundations. They had contacts from the beginning. James - or Nova, at least - was a name to know in the game, after all, and his time in the Creatures had only introduced him to more channels to exploit. That was more than other crews could say, crews that started from nothing. On the other hand, it still wasn’t easy. They had to prove themselves to the Fake syndicate, had to prove that they weren’t Creatures anymore to their contacts, had to prove to each other over and over that they could do this - they could handle this. Together, at least, they could handle this. 

Aleks spun his diamond ring around and around his middle finger, waiting for the signal to hop out of the van and disrupt an arms deal the Fake Syndicate wanted interrupted. They would get to keep what they found, and two gangs would be out of money and guns - it was a win-win all around. This wasn’t their first job together, and the crew ran like a well oiled machine, but nerves still curled in Aleks’ stomach. He didn’t stop spinning his ring, until a gloved hand reached over and stopped him. Aleks looked up through his shitty mask to see another cow staring at him - anonymous and too intimate all at once. 

“We got it,” James said, from behind his mask. Aleks smiled, before realizing that it didn’t show. 

“I know,” He confirmed, and let their fingers intertwine for a second. James gave his hand a squeeze, before letting his hand drop. Before Aleks could even think, the signal sounded, the door opened, and Trevor was yelling ‘go, go, go’ in a mock soldier voice through their ear pieces. 

\---

Sitting on the roof of their warehouse, Aleks decided for the hundredth time, Los Santos was good to them. James was leaning into his shoulder, beer clasped loosely in his hand, while Aleks puffed on and pass around a joint to their crew. Their crew. It was another job well done, and they had found some sweet sniper rifles in the cases they had taken - among some other things. Sure, Brett was complaining that a rumored grenade launcher wasn’t there, but Aleks would rather it not be there than pulled on them during the firefight. Yeah, it had been an ambush, and it had been a quick fight, but still. He’d rather hear the familiar pop-pop-pop of gunfire than the overwhelming explosion that could mean his friends were dead from one trigger pull. Aleks gave his ring a spin, absentmindedly, at the thought, but James’ hand was there on top of his before he could even get it around completely. 

“You’re gonna screw your finger right off, someday,” James said, and there was a light in his eyes that only happened after a solid job got pulled off well. Aleks smiled, and bumped their shoulders together. 

“Yeah, someday,” He agreed, breezily enough. James put a hand on his hair - short now, and bleached blonde - and gave a ruffle that Aleks would generally give to Trevor. “Don’t be an asshole.” 

“‘M always an asshole,” James said, and his smile was easy, so easy, and his teeth were bared in victory the same way they had been when they were all Aleks had ever seen of him. 

“Shut up,” Aleks said, and kissed him, because that was something he could do, something he’d been able to do for years, but had never quite lost its shine, the same way his ring never lost its sparkle. James was still smiling into the kiss, so it was more of a dry press of the lips than anything else. 

“Don’t be gross,” Trevor groaned, from his perch near the skylight, and Aleks didn’t move away from James - didn’t hesitate to flip him the middle finger, diamond ring sparkling in the city lights around them as he did it. James laughed, and bumped their noses together. Aleks reluctantly pulled away, but James kept him close with an arm thrown over his shoulders. 

Aleks glanced down one more time, and righted the ring so it sat symmetrically on his finger. It’d ended up being much more than the tip it had originally meant to be.


End file.
